Hittite Empire in the context of "2nd millennium BC"

The Late Bronze Age collapse was a period of societal collapse in the Mediterranean basin during the 12th century BC. It is thought to have affected much of the Eastern Mediterranean and Near East, in particular Egypt, Anatolia, the Aegean, eastern Libya, and the Balkans. The collapse was sudden, violent, and culturally disruptive for many Bronze Age civilizations, creating a sharp material decline for the region's previously existing powers.

The palace economy of Mycenaean Greece, the Aegean region, and Anatolia that characterized the Late Bronze Age disintegrated, transforming into the small isolated village cultures of the Greek Dark Ages, which lasted from c. 1100 to c. 750 BC, and were followed by the better-known Archaic Age. The Hittite Empire spanning Anatolia and the Levant collapsed, while states such as the Middle Assyrian Empire in Mesopotamia and the New Kingdom of Egypt survived in weakened forms. Other cultures, such as the Phoenicians, enjoyed increased autonomy and power with the waning military presence of Egypt and Assyria in West Asia.

Hayasa-Azzi or Azzi-Hayasa (Hittite: Ḫaiaša-, Armenian: Հայասա) was a Late Bronze Age confederation in the Armenian Highlands and/or Pontic region of Asia Minor. The Hayasa-Azzi confederation was in conflict with the Hittite Empire in the 14th century BCE, leading up to the collapse of Hatti around 1190 BCE. It has long been thought that Hayasa-Azzi may have played a significant role in the ethnogenesis of Armenians.

Lycia (/ˈlɪsiə/; Lycian: 𐊗𐊕𐊐𐊎𐊆𐊖 Trm̃mis; Greek: Λυκία, Lykia; Turkish: Likya) was a historical region in Anatolia from 15–14th centuries BC (as Lukka) to 546 BC. It bordered the Mediterranean Sea in what is today the provinces of Antalya and Muğla in Turkey as well some inland parts of Burdur Province. The region was known to history from the Late Bronze Age records of ancient Egypt and the Hittite Empire.

Lycia was populated by speakers of Luwic languages. Written records began to be inscribed in stone in the Lycian language after Lycia's involuntary incorporation into the Achaemenid Empire in the Iron Age. At that time (546 BC) the Luwian speakers were displaced as Lycia received an influx of Persian speakers.

The Hurrians (/ˈhʊəriənz/; Hurrian: 𒄷𒌨𒊑, romanized: Ḫu-ur-ri; also called Hari, Khurrites, Hourri, Churri, Hurri) were a people who inhabited the Ancient Near East during the Bronze Age. They spoke the Hurrian language, and lived throughout northern Syria, upper Mesopotamia and southeastern Anatolia.

The Hurrians were first documented in the city of Urkesh, where they built their first kingdom. The largest and most influential Hurrian kingdom was Mitanni. The population of the Hittite Empire in Anatolia included a large population of Hurrians, and there is significant Hurrian influence in Hittite mythology. By the Early Iron Age, the Hurrians had been assimilated with other peoples. The state of Urartu later covered some of the same area. A related people to the Hurrians are the Urarteans.

The Luwians /ˈluːwiənz/ (also known as Luvians) were an ancient people in Anatolia who spoke the Luwian language. During the Bronze Age, Luwians formed part of the population of the Hittite Empire and adjoining states such as Kizzuwatna. During the Hittite New Kingdom, Luwian replaced Hittite as the empire's dominant language. In the early Iron Age, a number of Luwian-speaking Neo-Hittite states arose in northern Syria. The Luwians are known largely from their language, and it is unclear to what extent they formed a unified cultural or political group.

Hattic, or Hattian, was a non-Indo-European agglutinative language spoken by the Hattians in Asia Minor in the 2nd millennium BC. Scholars call the language "Hattic" to distinguish it from Hittite, the Indo-European language of the Hittite Empire. The Hittites referred to the language as hattili (there are no attestations of the name of the language in Hattic itself), related to the Assyrian and Egyptian designation of an area west of the Euphrates as "Land of the Hatti" (Khatti).

The heartland of the oldest attested language of Anatolia before the arrival of Hittite-speakers, ranged from Hattusa, then called "Hattus", northward to Nerik. Other cities mentioned in Hattic include Tuhumiyara and Tissaruliya. Hittite-speakers conquered Hattus from Kussara to its south in the 18th century BC. They absorbed or replaced the Hattic-speaking ruling class (Hattians) but retained the name Hatti for the region. The name of the inhabitants of that area is likewise identified with the Biblical Heth, from which, in turn, the English word Hittite is derived.

Šuppiluliuma I, also Suppiluliuma (/ˌsʌpɪlʌliˈuːmə/) or Suppiluliumas (died c. 1322 BC) (/-məs/) was an ancient Hittite king (r. c. 1350–1322 BC).

Even before assuming the throne, Šuppiluliuma distinguished himself as a military commander protecting and reclaiming Hittite territories after a period of foreign attacks. Once king, he continued this program of consolidation and expansion, both in Anatolia and in Syria, with a great deal of success. Victories over a major rival, the Upper-Mesopotamian kingdom of Mittani, led to the extension of Hittite authority over a bevy of petty kingdoms in northern Syria, the installation of the Hittite king's younger sons as local viceroys at Aleppo and Carchemish, and the rump of the Mittanian state itself became effectively a dependency of the Hittite Kingdom.